Page 19 of The Eyes of Tamburah
Anger fueled her steps. Well away from Utina’s office, alarm grew when she realized that a steady crunching of boots had been right behind her for a while. Two people.
Ready to attack, she rounded on them and stopped. A pair of the guards had followed her. “What do you want?” she demanded.
“To see if you need anything else,” the man said.
Oh. Shyla considered as she calmed down. It was obvious that Utina knew nothing about the location of The Eyes. Which meant the same could be said for Shyla’s other legitimate clients—they tended to congregate and share knowledge and gossip. Shyla could ask them about the so-called Invisible Sword, but was hoping her reputation hadn’t been completely destroyed. Asking about a secret organization would probably ruin any credibility she had left. No. She’d research on her own. Good thing she was already in the university.
“Yes, I do,” she said to the waiting guard. “Can you accompany me while I visit the library?”
The man gestured to her defensive stance. “Are you worried about being attacked?”
She relaxed her posture. “No. About being accused of—”
“Being a murdering thief?” he asked. His dark features remained neutral.
They paid attention. “Yes.”
“And how do we know you’re not?” his partner asked as she rested her hand on the hilt of her sword.
“Shouldn’t that be clear?” Shyla waved her left arm.
When they didn’t answer, she added, “Because the Water Prince gave me his sigil.”
He laughed. “That’s not an affirmation of your good character. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if you were indeed a murdering thief who is now working for the Water Prince.”
Interesting and scary at the very same time. “Then you’ll just have to trust me. Or not. You can return to wherever you’ve been assigned. Just don’t get mad at me when you’re called to arrest me again.”
“While that would be the highlight of our sun jump, we’d rather just stick with you.” He shrugged. “Who knows, we might see some murdering thieving in action.” Humor glinted in his light brown eyes and it accented his high cheekbones and straight nose.
“No promises,” she said.
Another laugh. “I’m Nuru, this is my partner, Vallie.”
The woman nodded.
“Shyla. Thanks for the help.” And for not treating her like she had a disease. Except, that was probably due to the Water Prince’s sigil. Shyla needed to remember that. As soon as she found The Eyes and freed Banqui, everything would go back to normal.
The library’s entrance was located on level forty-two, but it spanned all five levels of the university. Shyla had spent quite a bit of time there, researching for her various clients. While the monks had granted her access to the First Room, she hadn’t had to use it. Yet. Dread always filled her when she thought about returning to the monastery.
Ennic, the head librarian, barely tolerated Shyla’s presence inhislibrary, but he had no recourse to outright ban her, so he settled for scorn, snide comments, and nasty glances. However, when he spotted the two guards following her, his expression turned from disapproval to almost glee.
“Finally,” he huffed. “She should have been arrested circuits ago. How can I help you officers? Do you need me to vouch for hercharacter? There’s been a few thefts we can pin on her.”
Wow. Shyla stared at Ennic. She’d known he disliked her, but to… Wow.
Nuru and Vallie gave Ennic a long silent stare. The librarian fidgeted under the scrutiny. When it was well past awkward, Nuru said, “You can assist this woman in finding the information she needs.”
Ennic started to protest, but clamped his lips together when both guards gave him the just-try-it countenance. Instead he turned to Shyla and asked in a somewhat civil tone, “What are you looking for?”
She showed him the Invisible Sword symbol. “Do you recognize this?”
He studied the rough drawing for a while. “No, but there’s thousands of symbols used throughout our history.” Ennic tapped a long finger on his chin. “It reminds me of the style of writing during the reign of Wequain the Horrible. The tablets and scrolls about him are located near the ones on Tamburah on level forty-four. I believe he ruled about three hundred circuits before him.”
That was surprisingly helpful. Shyla thanked Ennic, who frowned in response. Then she descended to level forty-four and spent the next thirty angles learning that there was a person in their history who was more evil than Tamburah. No symbol, though, and because the symbol looked familiar, she reviewed all the information on Tamburah again just in case she’d missed it.
No luck. Also nothing when she searched for the symbol on tablets and scrolls that were created during that same time period. Would she have to go through all the documents in the library dated between Wequain and Tamburah? No. That symbol had to be related to Tamburah in some way. She read through the historical accounts on the next ruler—Queen Malin. It made sense that if the Invisible Sword helped overthrow Tamburah, the next person would be very grateful and supportive. Nothing.
During all that time, the guards remained with her so no one accused her of anything. Best of all, everyone left her alone. However, Nuru and Vallie didn’t witness any action—unless you called growling in frustration entertaining. When she finished, she thanked them and headed back to her room.
